


And Light to Meet It

by ReyloTrashCompactor (NextToSomething), SouthSideStory



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ahch-To, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Force Bond, Kylo goes with Rey, Kylo joins the Resistance, Minor Finn/Rose Tico, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Pregnancy, Reylo - Freeform, Tags May Change, one non-con kiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2020-12-24 12:16:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NextToSomething/pseuds/ReyloTrashCompactor, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthSideStory/pseuds/SouthSideStory
Summary: Kylo Ren has abandoned the First Order. He did it to regain his freedom, to slip out of the noose Snoke had wrapped around his neck. Mostly, though, he joined the Resistance for Rey. She’s his equal in the Force, an ally he can trust, and a woman he has no business wanting. But his defection from the First Order doesn’t mean he returned to the light. He’s still committed to the dark side, and has every intention of using it to give him power in the fight to come.After the Resistance takes refuge on Ahch-To, Rey’s connection with Ben grows stronger. When they’re alone, it’s hard to remember the things he’s done, or the darkness he still clings to. The Force itself draws them closer, two disparate pieces that fit together better than she ever could have expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just FYI, this isn’t a war story. The whole thing takes place over the course of a few weeks on Ahch-To, as the Resistance recovers from their heavy losses in The Last Jedi. It’s canon divergent in a couple of ways, mainly that Kylo went with Rey after the fight against the Praetorian guards.
> 
> Trigger warning: In a future chapter, there is a brief description of Rey being grabbed while naked without her consent. It’s told as a memory from her time on Jakku, and it isn’t graphic. 
> 
> We hope you enjoy this fic! :)

.

.

Kylo had been aboard the _Falcon _only a few days ago, on Starkiller, but it felt different now. He was a passenger, not an invader. Aligned with the Resistance instead of the First Order. But it seemed wrong mostly because his father had been alive the last time he’d stepped foot inside this ship; and now he wasn’t. Han Solo was written on every inch of the _Falcon_, and Kylo’s childhood with him.

“Come here,” Rey said. “I need a co-pilot.”

Chewie was around, of course, and perfectly capable of co-piloting, but he seemed determined to stay as far from Kylo as possible. Probably a good idea, considering the scar on his stomach, and everything that had led to it.

He took the seat beside Rey’s and checked the ship’s necessities. Coaxium stores, hyperdrive functionality, oxygen supply.

“Everything’s in order,” he said. “For a piece of garbage.”

Rey didn’t look at him, but she smiled. “It’ll do.”

Kylo chewed the inside of his lip. A bad, childish habit that he’d never been able to break.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

He saw Rey’s throat working, swallowing down—something. Nervousness?

“Ahch-To,” she said. “The planet you were searching for. The First Order still doesn’t know its location, so I thought it would be a good place to take shelter.”

Kylo gripped his knees, breathing in, breathing out. He could see the light of Luke’s saber even now, ghoulish green, coming alive in the darkness while he lay on his back. Unguarded, unarmed, barely awake. Luke, who had been as much of a father to him as Han—and in some ways more so. Skywalker blood ran thinner than water, it seemed.

“You’re taking me to Luke?”

“No. I’m taking everyone to a safe place.” She glanced at him, something soft in her gaze for a split second, before she looked ahead again. “I don’t want to see him either. We didn’t part on good terms.”

Kylo snorted. “I guarantee it went better than the last time_ I_ saw him.”

“I attacked him,” Rey said flatly. “After he told me what he did to you—well, almost did to you. I lost my temper a bit.”

“A bit?”

“I hit him with my staff.” She sighed. “And drew my lightsaber on him when he was only holding a stick.”

All because she’d found out the truth. It struck something in him, raw and unnameable, knowing that she’d defended him.

“Do you regret it?”

“Not really.” Her voice lowered and hardened when she said, “I can’t. It was wrong, what he did. He’s paid for it, but—”

“He hasn’t paid for it,” Kylo snapped. “Not yet.”

Rey shook her head. “No. You can’t barge onto that island—a _sacred _island—and start a fight with Luke.”

“Why not? You did.”

She made a noise somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. “Don’t be snotty.”

“Well, I don’t think you have much to worry about. I burned down his temple and killed most of his students,” Kylo said. “My sudden appearance will probably overshadow your spat.”

The corner of Rey’s mouth twitched. “You do that a lot.”

“Do what?”

“Say something snide to try and cover up what you’re feeling.” She turned to face him, finally. “It doesn’t work very well. At least not with me.”

“I’m not trying to cover up anything. I _feel_ like cutting Luke in half. How’s that for straightforward?”

Rey rolled her eyes. It made her look younger than—however old she was.

“What are you? Twenty? Twenty-one?”

“Nineteen,” she said.

He’d been more child than man at that age, so confused and lost, unsure of his place in the world and terrified of failing his legacy. Not much had changed on that front, but he’d at least learned to use his fears rather than hiding from them. And he was finally starting to let go of his past. No matter the cost.

Rey frowned. “Why do you care about my age?”

“I was wondering how embarrassed I needed to be. You’ve saved my life and almost ended it in the space of a few days. And you’re only nineteen.” Kylo canted his head, wishing he could reach out and read her thoughts, but she’d notice. It probably wouldn’t work anyway. “You’ll be a terror when you’re my age.”

He had another reason to be curious, but he wasn’t about to say that he wanted her. She was too light and too kind for him—and too young on top of that. After all he’d done, it shouldn’t bother him. An inappropriate desire was nothing compared to his crimes. And yet the flavor of disappointment lay thick on his tongue.

“Like you’re so ancient,” Rey said. “You can’t be too much older than me.”

“I’ll be thirty next month.”

Her eyebrows raised and her jaw dropped. She snapped her mouth shut, then said, “Oh. You act younger, and you look… not thirty.”

He knew he should probably be offended, but he only wanted to laugh. It wouldn’t quite come, though. Maybe he hadn’t laughed in so long that he’d lost the capacity for it.

“You think I’m immature?”

Rey made a sour face, like she thought he was needling her. Which he was.

“You must admit that you have a bad temper.”

“My anger is a strength,” Kylo said. “It’s necessary if you want to use the dark side.”

She reached out her hand to him, same as she had last night. “But you don’t have to use the dark side anymore.”

Her hand was so elegant and slender, but he knew how capable she was too. Rey wasn’t just a pretty thing, no matter how beautiful she was, from her head to her graceful hands to her toes. She’d lived with Plutt’s collar around her throat for most of her life, burning under the Jakku sun until it forged her into something strong. Rey was a scavenger, slave, nothing, nobody. But to him, she was so much more than her origins.

Kylo took her hand in both of his, holding on properly this time. Rey’s palm was calloused, not as soft as it looked, and her fingers trembled. A blush stole over her cheeks, a lovely pink that made him want to touch her there too.

“Ben. You are coming back to the light. Aren’t you?”

“Hey, Rey—whoa!”

Kylo turned to see FN-2187 standing in the doorway, his dark eyes wide. He looked as dazed and surprised as if he’d been hit with an electro-shock prod.

Rey jerked her hand out of his and said, “Finn! What’s wrong?”

FN-2187 glanced between them, scowling now, but his expression smoothed out when his gaze settled on Rey. “Nothing. Just. Leia’s asking for you.”

Leia. Kylo had seen her briefly when he and Rey had saved the survivors from Crait, but he’d taken refuge in the cockpit as soon as he could. Hiding like a coward.

“Oh,” Rey said. “Ben, will you pilot? I know we’re in hyperspace, but I’d feel better knowing someone was—”

“Don’t call me that in front of other people,” he said, not ungently, so she’d know he wasn’t mad at her. “Though if you want to keep using it when we’re alone, that’s fine.”

FN-2187 was scowling again. Kylo didn’t much care.

“And yes, I can handle things here. Go see what she wants.”

Rey hurried away, her whole face blazing red now, taking the traitor with her.

She must have an affinity for traitors, considering what he’d become under her influence.

—

As soon as they were out of Ben’s earshot, Finn hissed, “What was that?”

“We were just talking.”

_Just _talking. Like Finn was a maiden aunt who she needed to convince of her innocence.

It wasn’t too far off the mark, aunthood aside.

“He was holding your hand,” Finn said. “Did he grab you?”

“No.”

She couldn’t explain her relationship with Ben, because it was inexplicable. And embarrassing. And unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

“Ben—I mean, Kylo. He’s not what he was on Starkiller. He was shooting down TIE fighters left and right when we got to Crait. Trust me, he’s here to help us, and it could make the difference in whether we win this war or lose it.”

“He sliced me up like a salami less than a week ago,” Finn said dryly. “That’s a pretty quick turnaround from monster to hero, don’t you think?”

“I’m not saying he’s a hero. Just that he’s our ally now. One we desperately need.”

Rey grasped Finn’s shoulder. He felt strong and he looked healthy. He’d survived Ben’s attack and bounced back just fine.

She should be angrier on Finn’s behalf, and she knew it. She had been, at first. Before she’d talked to Ben. Before he’d found her in her loneliness and saved her from it with a simple touch and one promise. _You’re not alone. _

“Come on,” she said. “I shouldn’t keep Leia waiting any longer.”

Finn took her all the way down to the cargo hold, where Leia leaned against a wooden crate.

She smiled. A weak thing, but Rey was glad to see it.

“It’s dusty down here, but I’d like this conversation to be private.”

When Rey glanced at Finn, Leia said to him, “You’re welcome to stay. Besides, if I kicked you out, I’m sure Rey would tell you everything anyway.”

“I can keep a secret,” Rey said. “Not that I want to exclude Finn, but—”

Leia laughed. “I meant no offense. I just know what it’s like when you meet someone you can trust with anything. For me, a long time ago, that was Luke.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Leia waved her hand vaguely. “It’s fine. Now, tell me what happened with Ben.”

Rey stared down at the filthy floor. That awful blush was back, but at least it was too dim in the cargo hold for Leia or Finn to see it.

“When I was on the _Supremacy_, he saved my life. Snoke ordered him to kill me, but he turned on Snoke and killed him instead. After we fought the guards, we went to Crait to rescue you. That’s all.”

“That’s all?” Leia smirked. “Somehow I doubt it. For starters, why were you on the _Supremacy_? Did Luke send you?”

Luke. He’d tell Leia everything as soon as he saw her. How she’d attacked him and drawn a lightsaber on him. That he’d seen her touching hands with Ben.

“No. I went on my own. He tried to stop me, but I knew that if I went to—to Ben…” Surely she could use his real name with his _mother_. “I knew he’d come back to the light. I’d seen it in a vision.”

Leia’s lips trembled, but she gathered herself quickly. “I wouldn’t be so sure, Rey. The things the Force reveals to us… they’re rarely clean cut. He’s here, and that’s something, but leaving the First Order doesn’t mean he’s left the dark side.”

Rey thought of Ben, just minutes ago, talking about his anger, and how it fueled the darkness. He’d spoken easily, familiarly, with no shame or regret. Like it was a path he still planned to follow.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Finn said. “If he hasn’t turned, then why would he help us?”

Leia looked at Rey as though she could see straight through her. “Isn’t that the question.”

_It’s me,_ Rey realized. _He did this for me._

For a moment, she wasn’t here at all, but back on Jakku, scratching another line onto the wall of her rusting home. One more tally on the durasteel. One more day of hunger, thirst, and bondage. _Come back for me,_ she’d begged with every new mark, sometimes silently, other times in parched whispers_._ But the years had passed, and the army of tallies had grown, and she had remained alone.

She wasn’t alone anymore. She had Finn, who’d been the first to come back for her, like she’d always dreamed. She had Leia and the rest of the Resistance.

And Ben. Ben, who’d betrayed his master and killed Snoke’s guards and shot down TIE fighters with deadly precision. No quarter, no mercy, fighting with darkness to rescue the light.

All for her.

A week ago, she hadn’t had a soul in the galaxy that she could depend on. Now she had a family of sorts, and Ben was part of it. But he didn’t come without risks. She’d seen with her own eyes what he could do to his family, when it served him.

“You’d have to ask him,” Rey said. “Whatever his reasons, he’s here now, and we’d be fools to turn him away.”

Finn looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

Then he apparently thought again and said, “Even if he’s trying to do the right thing, he’s unstable and dangerous. If this goes sideways, he could kill us all.” He glanced at Leia apologetically. “I know he’s your son, but—”

“I’m fully aware of what Ben is capable of,” Leia said. “Before Han, I had hope that there was still light in him, but then…” She winced. “Maybe he’s starting to change, but Finn is right. We need to tread carefully. You most of all, Rey.”

Rey didn’t ask why. She knew, and she didn’t want Leia spelling it out for Finn.

“I will,” she said. “I swear.”

—

Ahch-To’s beauty was raw and savage, a blue world turned black by night. Rain pounded on the _Falcon_, and even through the ship’s insulation Kylo could hear it _pinging _on the metal, a thousand-thousand needles hitting durasteel panels. Rey had landed on flat stone overlooking the sea, its waters wild, churning with the storm.

“Stay here,” Rey said. “Leia and I should talk to him first.”

“I’m not cowering in this ship like a little boy.”

Rey stepped close to him, like she’d done on the turbolift in the _Supremacy_. “I’m not saying you should hide. Just wait here for a few minutes, so we can explain things to Luke.”

She smelled like water from swimming through that pool in the cave, diving for the secrets of her history, of herself. And like blood too, the cut on her arm still fresh. He wanted to touch her hair, pull that final band from it so that it all fell to her shoulders, fully loose. It looked delicate and fine, and he wondered if it would be silky between his fingers. Or maybe it wasn’t as soft as it appeared, like her calloused hands. Either would please him. Everything about her pleased him.

Even her stubbornness. He could be stubborn too, though.

“No,” Kylo said. “I’m coming with you.”

“Ben—”

He gestured to the lightsaber on her hip. “Unless you’re going to use that, you can’t stop me.”

Rey pushed his chest. No Force behind it, so it didn’t move him, but she didn’t seem to be trying for that anyway. Just exercising a little of her temper. She turned to anger so easily, and the power of it hummed between them. He could taste it, almost.

“Fine. Let’s go then.”

The people of the Resistance didn’t shy from him when he strode through the ship behind Rey—they were too brave for that—but he could see the fear in their eyes. Good. Enough fear might keep them from stabbing him in the back. None of them could hurt him, but it might not sit well with Rey if he killed any of her allies.

Leia met them outside. She stood under the cover of the _Falcon_, protected from the rain, but only just. She looked tired, sick in body and heart, but as regal as ever. Her presence in the Force felt warm as a summer day, strong despite all that had happened, everything that he’d done.

She said nothing to him, so he said nothing too.

Rey led them to Luke, up an endless, winding stone staircase built into the hills, then across a narrow ledge. The wind threatened to push them over, throw them to the squalling storm and thrashing sea. They used the Force to steady their steps, until they reached a small village of stone huts.

Luke stood outside, looking out over the ocean. He turned to face them, and Kylo’s right hand shook. He remembered a different hut on a different world, where he’d woken to Luke, looking down on him with fear and protective rage. The intent in his heart clear.

He’d been born twice. Once, as Ben Solo, labored into the world by the woman who stood in front of him now. Then again in that hut, as Kylo Ren, burned into life by green light.

Kylo looked on Luke, and knew that he’d stabbed the wrong father.

Rey grasped his arm, and Kylo realized that his hand was on his lightsaber. She looked up at him without alarm, nothing but softness and understanding in her gaze.

“Let the past die,” she said. “You told me that. Remember?”

Leia ran to Luke and threw her arms around him. Did she know what his uncle had done to him? Did she care?

Kylo could hear Luke say, “I’m sorry, Leia. I’m so sorry.”

He turned away and said to Rey, “You were right. I shouldn’t be here.”

She followed him across the ledge, and when he reached the stone steps, she grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

“Stop! Where are you even going? The _Falcon _is the only way off this world.”

The rain fell harder than ever, stinging against his bare face. When he turned back to Rey, he missed his mask. It would have protected him from her hungry eyes.

“I don’t know. Somewhere else. Any place but where Luke is.”

She was a couple of steps above him, so they stood at the same level. It made him want to move closer, to take back the advantage his height gave him over her.

“I can’t imagine what it must feel like to see him again,” she said. “But please, don’t run away. We need you.”

“And what about you? Do you need me?”

It was stupid to ask, when he felt ripped open already, raw and angry. If she said no, he’d break.

Rey reached out, and he took her hand again. He felt like he could do that forever, any time she invited his touch.

She said, “Of course I do.”

_She’s lying_, some slithering voice whispered. _She just wants the power you could bring to the Resistance._ It sounded like Snoke. It wasn’t real, just the shadow of his lessons. Branded on him and in him, no matter how dead his master was.

Kylo squeezed her hand. “I’ll stay.”

He wanted to run Luke through with his lightsaber. He wanted to flee from this island and the First Order too; find some backwater planet where he could make a quiet, solitary life. He wanted many things, but none as much as he wanted Rey.

.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have a minute, please let us know what you thought of the first chapter! :)


	2. Chapter 2

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Rey gave Luke and Leia time to move into his hut, then led Ben back to one of the free ones. It was as cold inside as it was outside, but dry at least. A pile of driftwood sat beside the cot, and a lighter as well. Luke’s doing. He’d seen them coming. She stacked some fresh wood at the center of the floor and lit it. The wood didn’t catch easily, but within a few minutes they had a small fire.

Rey stood and said, “You’ve been in one of these huts before, when we first touched hands. Could you see it?”

“Some. There at the end it was layered over my bedroom like a shadow. Enough that I could see your surroundings. And Luke.”

“It was like that for me too. Your bedroom was very disappointing by the way.” She let a little playfulness into her voice, so he’d know she was only teasing him. “I’d expected something more villainous, but it was rather ascetic.”

Ben ran a hand through his hair, squeezing the water out of it. His ears were prominent, and she found that oddly endearing. She wondered if he kept his hair long to cover them.

“I’m not like Snoke. Not weak for pretty things.” He glanced over her, then said, “Usually.”

That was flirting, she thought. Nobody had ever flirted with her before, except maybe Finn asking about whether or not she had a boyfriend, but that had been more nosy than flirtatious. It didn’t mean anything. He was probably just trying to make her uncomfortable again. He seemed to enjoy throwing her off balance.

“So.” Rey cleared her throat. “I think we should let Leia handle the Resistance. When she’s done talking to Luke, she’ll probably go check on them. We’d only get in the way.”

Ben nodded. “I certainly would. Why do you think you couldn’t help?”

Rey pulled the band out of her hair and wrung the water from it, her hands shaking, though not entirely from the cold. She could give him most of the truth.

“Finn is the only one who knows me, and I just appeared with Kylo Ren in tow. I doubt they trust me.”

Ben narrowed his eyes. “And you think I need babysitting.”

She wished he’d stop looking at her like that, as if he knew every thought in her head. And apparently he did.

“Well you did just try to run away. Though I don’t know if you were planning to steal the _Falcon _or swim to another island.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Ben said. “And I’m not going to run again. I’m not a coward.”

Rey walked over to him, and barely restrained herself from touching him. Why did she always want to do that?

“Trust me, I know you’re brave. You turned against Snoke, against everything you’d dedicated yourself to, and saved me. That takes a lot of courage, and strength.”

He huffed. “Maybe I’m just good at switching sides.”

So snide again, but she wasn’t going to call him out on it this time.

“Fair point,” she said lightly. “You have done it twice now.”

“With good incentive both times.”

Rey touched her chest. If he’d followed his master’s orders, he’d have stabbed her just there, through her heart.

“Killing Snoke and helping the Resistance. Did you do it for me?”

Ben didn’t look away from her. He was so brave, like she’d said.

“Yes, and no. I was sick of jumping at Snoke’s every command and getting kicked for my trouble. I was an attack dog for the First Order, but it wasn’t mine to run. Starkiller was Hux’s project, and I hated it almost as much as I hate him.” His jaw worked, and she thought he might be done, but then he said, “I hated myself too. I didn’t see any other way, though. I’d belonged to Snoke all my life, long before Luke tried to kill me. Turning against him seemed impossible. And then I met you.”

The air between them felt thick, heavy with her question and his answer, and a hundred other things that were yet to be said.

Rey stepped back from him. “When you met me, you knocked me out and dragged me to Starkiller.”

“I didn’t drag you,” he said, sounding almost nervous. “I carried you.”

She could see it, suddenly, as though she was watching from the outside. Kylo Ren carrying her through the Takodana forest. She looked so small against him, a limp doll in his arms. He could have passed her off to a Stormtrooper, or slung her over his shoulder like a sack of salvage, but he hadn’t done either of those things. He’d held her like a bride. Carrying her through the woods, across a battlefield, into his shuttle, through the halls of Starkiller, to the interrogation room. In all that time, he’d never once set her down or handed her to anyone else.

“That was kind of you.”

What a lie. _Kind?_ Ben was many things, and kind could be among them in surprising moments, but not when they’d first met.

“No it wasn’t,” he said. “It was selfish.”

Rey didn’t have the courage to ask him to elaborate on that.

He went to the other side of the hut and turned his back to her. She saw his arms and shoulders working, but it took a moment for her to realize that he was unfastening his belt and shirt.

“What are you doing?” she asked, so shrilly that it made her sound like an old junkwife.

“Getting out of these wet clothes and under a blanket.” He looked over his shoulder at her. “I suggest you do the same if you don’t want to freeze to death.”

Rey felt herself gaping, but she couldn’t stop. “You can’t just undress in front of me.”

“Go find another hut. I don’t need to be minded like a child.”

He shrugged out of his shirt, and she saw that he had another one on underneath it, sleeveless, as black as everything else he wore. He pulled that one off over his head and dropped it to the floor. His shoulders were broad, his back wide, every inch of him strong and pale. Rey knew that her own skin was damaged from years under Jakku’s relentless sun, but Ben’s looked smooth, fair, and unblemished. Perfect.

She thought of that day in the interrogation room, when he’d taken off his mask for her. She’d expected a terrifying creature, someone ugly and scarred, maybe not even human. And then she’d seen him, handsome as a prince out of an old tale. This was almost like that. She had known he was well built, of course, after seeing him shirtless only yesterday, but she’d given little thought to it until this moment. She saw him as a man now, not a beautiful monster.

A very good-looking man, who was now taking off his boots and socks, then his pants. She ought to turn away, but he wasn’t doing a damn thing to hide himself. And she wanted to see him. She’d thought his back was long, but his legs seemed to go on forever, as muscular and finely shaped as the rest of him. She half thought Ben was going to strip off his black shorts too, but he only grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around himself, and sat beside the fire.

Rey felt hot and cold at once, embarrassment warming her and rainwater freezing her. It made her shiver, and the way Ben was watching her didn’t help. So intently, with something like a challenge in his gaze.

He was right; the rain seemed to have seeped down to her bones, and she wanted nothing more than to have a dry blanket against her bare skin. Except Ben was watching her. And she could hardly tell him not to, after the way she’d stared at him.

She couldn’t afford to be modest on Jakku. There was only one shower at Niima Outpost, too expensive for her to use more than every two weeks, and the sheet metal stall that shielded it was ramshackle at best. She’d been looked in on by peeping men nearly every time she’d showered, and it had stopped bothering her after a while. A few strong threats were usually enough to get rid of them, though a few had been more stubborn. They’d left with bruises.

Rey reached inside herself and grabbed hold of that bravery. When it came to most matters, Ben wasn’t like any other man she’d ever met, but in this way he was the same. Just one more watcher, come to peek at the scavenger while she undressed.

She took off her boots, socks, and arm wraps. Then her belt, the leather slick with rainwater. Her sash fell loosely about her without the belt to hold it in place, easy to remove. She pulled her outer tunic and her undershirt over her head at once, and let them plop to the floor. Her bra was simple, white cotton, nothing alluring about it (clean and new, at least, unlike the ones she’d grown up with). But Ben stared at her chest raptly, his throat working on a heavy swallow, as attentive as if she wore lace and shimmersilk.

Rey slid her fingers beneath the shoulder straps, considering. What did it matter, really? He could see straight through her bra anyway, wet as it was, and she didn’t have much in the way of breasts. She pulled down the straps, slipped her arms out of them, and undid the clasp between the tiny cups. All business, just mechanical undressing.

Ben’s chest was rising and falling heavily, his eyes sleepy and keen at once. Apparently he liked the sight of her small-nothing breasts, and that made her fumble a bit with the buttons on her pants. She steadied herself as she stripped out of them, a somewhat clumsy business with them drenched. Ben’s gaze slid down the length of her bare legs, then back up, settling squarely on her underwear. They were plain, practical, and much too covering to be remotely seductive.

She took them off too, wrapped herself in a blanket, and sat as close to the fire as she dared. Now that she was right across from Ben, she could see how flushed he was, red from his forehead to his chest.

“That surprised you?” Rey asked. She imagined that she was posing a question about the weather, something utterly innocuous, and it helped her keep her voice even.

Ben’s lower lip trembled, a nervous tic that made him look vulnerable. “Yes. After the fuss you made over me undressing, I was expecting more modesty.”

“You just surprised me.” She shrugged. “It’s not like you’re the first man to see me naked.”

Ben frowned, looking almost affronted, like he thought this had ruined her.

Rey thought of the wrinkle-faced scavenger who’d reached into the shower and grabbed her arse, trying to work his thumb between her legs. She’d punched him so hard that she’d broken his nose, but the bruises and nail marks from his clawing fingers had taken nine days to heal. She’d counted them, desperate for his touch to disappear off her skin. Not that it mattered; the memory had stuck, stubbornly vivid even now, four years later.

That didn’t make her ruined, and neither did all the others who’d watched her.

“Oh don’t look at me like that,” Rey snapped. “I doubt you’re as pure as a monk. You gave up the Jedi way a long time ago.”

“I’m not looking at you like anything.”

“No, now you’re glaring at the fire.”

Ben glared at _her_ then. “I don’t care if you’ve fucked every man, woman, and happabore on Jakku.”

She hadn’t fucked anyone, but saying so now would just make her look defensive, and probably like a liar as well.

“Thank you. I’m glad to know you think so highly of me.”

They sat in silence for a long while. Rey considered kicking him out of the hut, but he was nearly naked, and the storm only seemed to be getting worse. He was a murderous, traitorous snake, but she didn’t want him to get sick.

This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Some part of her had hoped that Ben would be impressed by her, a girl who had the nerve to strip down right in front of him. Instead, he thought she was a slut.

_Happabore. _What a bastard.

“I’m taking the bed,” she said. “You can sleep on the floor.”

“I’ll have more room on the floor anyway.”

She hadn’t thought of that. Large as he was, the bed would barely hold him. And he had the fire.

Damn him.

Rey curled up as much as the stone cot would allow, and exhaustion hit her all at once. She was tired beyond tired, every bit of energy siphoned out of her as soon as she’d laid down. The last week had been the longest of her life. She’d gained and lost so much that it was impossible to keep track of it all. And now, finally, she was too sleepy to care.

—

The barest light drifted through the open doorway, dark grey and wan, the indecisive color of the sky before sunrise. Rain struck the hut, tinkling rather than pounding now. The fire had gone out, leaving nothing but a pile of crumbling, blackened driftwood and soot behind, a burnt scent lacing the air.

Rey had fallen asleep with her back to him, but she must have turned over in the night. The blanket had slipped down enough to show her left breast. So little that it would barely fill his palm if he cupped her, her small nipple hard. He’d seen most of her last night, and she was even more beautiful under her clothes than he’d pictured. Her hands, parts of her arms, and her face were sunkissed, the slightest bit darker than the rest of her, a mark of her rough life that he found strangely appealing. She was drawn all in long lines and subtle curves, fit but feminine. Slender legs, narrow hips, tiny waist. She’d done nothing to groom the dark hair between her legs, and he wondered what it would be like to feel those curls. To touch her, taste her, smell her.

Kylo knew he’d probably ruined any chance of that. He cared that Rey had taken lovers, but not in the way that she’d thought. He knew better than anyone that sex had nothing to do with purity. Celibacy had been the Jedi way, and Snoke hadn’t allowed him to weaken himself with women. He was twenty-nine, almost thirty, and he’d never slept with anyone. But in the ways that mattered, there was nothing pure left in him.

It was his own lack of experience that had bothered him. He was free from Snoke now, and he could do whatever he wanted. And what he wanted was to sleep with Rey, but he’d make a fool of himself if he tried. She’d know what she was doing, and he’d be a fumbling virgin. He’d offered to teach her once, but in this, he’d have to learn. It was humiliating, and he’d lashed out at her, even though she’d done nothing wrong.

If he had the chance, he’d make it up to her. Kiss her everywhere, and do whatever she said until she taught him how to make her come.

Kylo closed his eyes and went over lightsaber forms in his head, starting with Juyo and moving backwards. He had to go all the way to Ataru before his body calmed and his mind eased.

He got up as quietly as he could and dressed in his damp clothes. Rey stirred as he was putting on his boots. She sat up, letting the blanket fall, baring her to her waist. So unabashed, and he had no idea how she did that. Last night, when he’d taken off his clothes, he couldn’t face her, or she’d have seen his unsteady hands.

“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice sleep roughened.

Kylo made himself look at her face and not her breasts, but that didn’t help much. She was so damn beautiful first thing in the morning that it was distracting.

“Nowhere,” he said. “Just taking a walk.”

Rey nodded toward the open doorway. “In the rain?”

“It’s not storming anymore. Just a drizzle, really.”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

“Rey—”

She stood, walked over to her pile of clothes, and bent down to grab them.

Kylo turned away while she dressed.

“Shy now?” she asked, so snottily that she sounded exactly like the teenager she was.

He bit back the first three nasty replies that came to mind, and only said, “I’ve already seen it all.”

Rey laughed, but she didn’t sound amused. “Not worth seeing again then, I guess.”

“Please. You must know you’re beautiful.”

Rey didn’t say anything else until she was fully dressed and standing beside him.

“The others probably aren’t up yet. I can show you around the island some.”

He followed Rey out of the hut, through the little village, and up a grassy hill.

He said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding Leia.”

“That’s the corpiston calling the antecylinder hot.”

“What kind of junkrat proverb is that?”

She sighed. “It means you’re a hypocrite, and that _you _are the one avoiding Leia.”

She wasn’t wrong, and they both knew it.

The hill grew steeper the higher they climbed. Sunlight peeked over the horizon to their left, white and weak through the clouds. The rain had dissipated to a gentle mist, cool on Kylo’s bare face and hands. He’d forgotten to put on his gloves, he realized.

When they reached the crest of the hill, he asked, “What did my mother say to you about me?”

Rey’s eyes looked darker in this light, but he knew they were a warm hazel. She said nothing for a long moment, probably weighing her options. To be honest, to lie, or to say it wasn’t his business.

“She told me to be careful. That I shouldn’t assume you’ve come to the light just because you’ve left the First Order.”

Kylo stopped, and Rey stopped with him.

“She’s right, in part,” he admitted. “The dark side has given me far more strength than the light ever did, and I’m going to need that to help you in this fight.”

Rey crossed her arms over her chest. “The dark side nearly killed you, Ben! And it’s cost you so much. Too much.”

A walkway with no railing. Red light. An old man’s gentle touch on his cheek. A goodbye. An absolution he didn’t deserve.

Kylo jerked his head to the side, shaking off the memory.

“Han Solo is gone,” he said, “and I’m more powerful for it. You’ll thank me for that when I’m killing your enemies.”

“How are you more powerful?” she asked. “If I’d let the dark lead me on Starkiller, you’d be dust right now.”

“That says more about your strength than my weakness.”

Rey frowned, quiet, like she didn’t know what to do with a compliment.

“Besides, we were already connected by then. When you drew on the Force, you drew from me too. When we fought after that, it was almost like fighting myself.”

Rey started walking again. “That doesn’t make any sense. Snoke didn’t connect us until later.”

Kylo caught up to her long strides with a few of his own. “He built the bridge that let us see one another when we were apart, but something was already there, something for him to use. Don’t you remember? When I…” He thought of Rey in the interrogation chair, trapped and at his mercy, yet no less fierce for it. No less beautiful either. “When I probed your mind. I know you felt it too.”

“I felt a serious headache,” she said. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever properly thanked you for torturing me.”

“That’s harsh.”

“The truth usually is.”

“I was gentle with you,” he said. “That was nothing next to what I’m capable of when I want something. Ask your friend, Dameron. He didn’t get the same tender treatment you did.”

Kylo grabbed her arm, making her stop. They were standing on a steep, green hill, so far from the village that they might as well be on another island. Out of earshot, out of sight, alone.

Rey ripped her arm out of his grasp. “_Tender? _You riffled through my memories like you were skimming a book. Only the book was my life, Ben. My fears and dreams. My secrets. You had no right to any of it.”

He’d seen this very island in her memories. A place where she’d taken refuge on lonely nights, and now they were here together. Fighting again.

“Whether I should or not, I have it all,” Kylo said. “And you have my secrets too. Or did you forget that part?”

Rey looked ready to draw her lightsaber. “That was self-defense.”

“No, pushing me out of your mind was self-defense. Forcing your way into my head was just spite. And ridiculing me for what you found there was cruel.”

“I was being _gentle_,” Rey said. “I could have said much worse.”

“Like what?”

She shook her head. “I’m not you. I won’t throw every awful thing about you in your face.”

Kylo stepped closer to her, until they were almost touching. A challenge, and she didn’t back down from it. Of course she didn’t, and he loved that.

“Why not?” he asked. “I deserve it. I tortured you, and Dameron, and plenty of others before him. I killed my father. I split open FN-2187 like he was nothing and left him to die in the snow. If I’d beaten you in that forest, I’d have taken you prisoner. And you wouldn’t have liked what came next.”

Rey’s hand twitched toward her lightsaber, but she didn’t grab it. “I don’t believe you. You wanted to teach me, not hurt me.”

“In the darkness, the lessons always come with pain,” he said. “I’d have hurt you as much as I needed to.” Kylo put his hand on her heaving chest, over her heart, so he could feel its furious rhythm. “And I would have liked it.”

That was the truth, and a lie, and every shade of grey in between, but he hoped she’d take it at face value.

Rey trembled under his touch. He could feel fear on her, and something else that he couldn’t identify. Then a strange calm settled over her, still and peaceful, and he knew he’d lost.

Rey wrapped her hand around his wrist, her touch soft, as if the most vicious of his confessions had stolen her anger.

“I know what you’re doing,” she whispered. “You can’t turn me to the dark side with a few nasty words.”

“I know I can’t turn you. Only you can make that choice.” He touched the dip at the base of her throat. Her skin was cool and damp from the mist, but he could feel her pulse there, warm and so alive. “But I’m not going to stop trying to nudge you in the right direction.”

Rey smiled. “Go ahead. Because I’m not going to stop either.”

.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was some trailer! I'm so ready for TROS. Why isn't it December yet??
> 
> If you've got a minute, please let us know what you thought of this chapter! :)


	3. Chapter 3

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Rey took Ben to the tree. The Jedi texts were safe in the _Falcon_, but hopefully now that Luke had talked with Leia, she’d be able to return them to their proper home. After she’d had a good read.

“The first Jedi built this place,” Rey said. “There should be books, just there. The foundation of the Jedi religion. I’ll put them back soon.”

“You stole them?”

Ben gave her a look she couldn’t read at first, and then it clicked. He was impressed.

Rey tried not to smile. “Yes, well. Luke would have burned them as soon as I left the island, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

“Burn them?” Ben touched the shelf where the books belonged. “Snoke said that Luke wanted to die, and the Jedi Order too. Why?”

Rey laid her hand over his, small to large, elegant to crude. “You know why.”

She traced his knuckles with her thumb. So warm. His skin was always hot when they touched, like a fire burned inside him. The bond between them hummed and the world narrowed, their surroundings drawing closer, somehow loud in the quiet. Like they were the only man and woman in the galaxy, and this temple to the light belonged to them. Perhaps it did. The first Jedi had built this place, and now she and Ben stood here, the last of their legacy.

“Ben,” she said, hushed. This was a moment for whispers. “Thank you. For saving me, and coming here, even though you knew you’d have to face Luke.”

He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her. When she leaned into him, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. It felt like _home _in a way that Jakku never had, and that no one else ever would.

Maybe someday Luke would teach her, and she’d have the father she’d always yearned for. Maybe she’d fall in love with a good man, settle down and raise a child (or two, if she felt brave enough). Maybe, in time, Finn would become the brother she’d never had. All of these maybes were nebulous and distant, but even if they came true tomorrow, she knew that nothing would ever feel as good as this. Being held by Ben, breathing in the scents of rain and fire on his battle-worn clothes. It was a sacrament, to embrace here in this holy place, every sin between them washed clean. This was the Force, bright even in the dim hollow of the tree, the purest kind of light binding them together.

_Don’t be afraid. I feel it too._

He’d been right from the beginning, no matter how wrong the circumstances. This had started the moment they’d met, though, not on Starkiller. When he’d looked inside her mind for the map, on Takodana, she’d felt it. Fear had clouded her understanding in the moment, but she wasn’t afraid of him anymore, and she could look back on it with clarity. In the faintest second before the darkness had swallowed her, she’d felt something strange and new, which she still didn’t have a name for. An intimacy that went beyond touch or commitment.

Then she’d woken, restrained and frightened, but it was still there. That niggling feeling at the back of her mind, cradled in the most private corner of her heart. Closeness to the creature across from her.

Now Rey could barely breathe from it, this affinity for Ben.

“You drive me mad,” she said.

That was the least of it, but all that she could put into words.

He laughed, a soft, disused sound. She wondered how long it had been since something had made him laugh.

“I’m not afraid anymore, and I do feel it,” Rey murmured. “Especially here. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

His hold on her tightened. Strong as he was, it almost hurt, but in a good way.

She didn’t know what this was. The Force, yes, but more than that too. Could anything be more than the Force?

Ben carded his fingers through her hair, and she was glad that she hadn’t pulled it up. With Ben around to touch her this way, she might leave it down forever.

Outside, the rain was picking up, the remains of the Resistance huddled in the _Millennium Falcon_, Luke and Leia were reunited, and life on the island continued. Rey could feel porg hatchlings crying for food. Waves breaking against the cliffs. Sunlight feeding the grass from above, and decaying creatures feeding it from below. Beneath it all, the cave, but even its darkness seemed calm at the moment, not so hungry for her pain now that it had tasted it once.

Inside, Ben held her, and none of the rest of it mattered.

“This place, you dreamed of it?” he asked.

Rey nodded against his chest. “For as long as I can remember.”

“I didn’t,” he said, almost sadly. “It doesn’t belong to me the same way that it belongs to you.”

“It _does_.”

Rey reached around her back to grab his hand. He let her guide it to her chest and place his palm between her breasts, so that he could feel her lungs working. That was where the Force resided in her body, first and foremost: in her breath.

“Feel me. Feel everything around you. The tree, the island, the ocean. There’s light in all of it, and in you too.” She slid his hand down to her belly, though she wasn’t sure why. It just felt right, and she wanted him touching her there. “It’s yours. All of it can be yours, if you’ll just—”

Ben ripped away from her. “We should go. Everyone will be wondering where we are.”

Just like that, the softness and seclusion of the moment shattered. Rey could still feel the Force, but she was less bewitched by it. More herself, and a bit embarrassed that she’d behaved so stupidly.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s go back then.”

Ben wasn’t wrong when he’d said she was avoiding Leia, but maybe it was best to face her sooner rather than later. Get it over with, so she could stop worrying about it.

Leia took the decision out of her hands. She was waiting at the hut Rey and Ben had claimed, standing beside the doorway.

“There you are,” she said. “I was starting to think we should send a search party.”

An apology was on the tip of her tongue, but Ben said, “It’s barely past dawn. You couldn’t have been waiting that long.”

As far as Rey knew, that was the first thing Ben had said to his mother since deciding to help the Resistance. And he’d chosen to be obnoxious.

Instead of addressing Ben, Leia said to Rey, “I was hoping to talk to you. Poe’s already waiting on the _Falcon_.”

“Of course.”

Rey looked away from Ben. She didn’t want Leia to see her weakness for him, and she was sure it showed on her face every time she laid eyes on him.

The village was bustling with Caretakers and what was left of the Resistance, settling into the huts. Leia hurried through it all, so Rey didn’t have much chance to catch what was happening, but she saw blankets, water skins, and bowls of soup being passed around. Things that Leia, Luke, and Poe had likely organized with the Caretakers last night and this morning, while she’d been with Ben.

Two days allied with him, and she was already acting irresponsibly. He distracted her and stole her sense so easily. Her only consolation was that she seemed to do the same to him.

They found the ship blessedly empty, so they could meet Poe in the cockpit rather than the cargo hold. He stood beside the pilot’s seat, examining the controls. Finn had said that Poe was the best pilot in the Resistance, and Rey would bet that he was dying to take the famous _Millennium Falcon _for a spin.

He turned to Leia and said, “General.”

Leia smiled. “You can’t call me that anymore. I’m handing the reins over to you.”

Poe frowned, quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “But you just demoted me.”

“Because you ignored orders and put the whole Resistance at risk,” Leia said. “On Crait, you proved that you’d learned from your mistakes, and you led everyone to safety. You acted like a general. And that’s what we need now. A general who knows both when to pull back and when to fight.” She smiled sadly. “Besides, I’m in no shape to be leading anyone. I haven’t recovered from the attack on the bridge yet.”

Poe looked as stricken as Rey felt, but he nodded. “I’ll make you proud, Leia.”

She cupped his shoulder. “I know you will.”

Then she looked to Rey. “You might be new to the Resistance, but you’ve done so much for us already, and the Force has put its faith in you. That means I can too.”

That was an odd way of describing the Force. As though she was in control of her own path, not chosen and set on one.

“Thank you.”

Leia held out her hands, gesturing at Rey and Poe at once.

“I want you to work with Poe,” she said. “You were on the _Supremacy_, and you saw Snoke die. You know the state of the First Order better than we do. What do you think we should do next?”

Rey glanced between Leia and Poe, both watching her raptly, seriously. She’d been an ignorant scavenger a week ago, and now she was making one of the most important decisions in the galaxy.

“The _Supremacy _was much more than a ship. It docked eight Resurgent-class Star Destroyers, was manned by over two million personnel, and housed more than thirty thousand Stormtroopers. Most of the First Order’s army training grounds, production lines, and shipyards went down with it.”

Poe and Leia might know some of these things, but according to Ben, most of it had been kept under wraps. Things that she only knew because he’d told her.

“All this to say, the First Order should be in disarray, and they won’t have the resources to do anything but lick their wounds for now. I think we should take time to recover too, while our enemies are looking the other way. We took big hits getting to Crait. We need time to rest and rebuild before we’ll have any chance of attacking the First Order.”

Poe nodded slowly. “We have wounded people, and the survivors are grieving. If the _Supremacy _was as central to the First Order as you’re saying, then they’ll be busy taking care of their own for a while. And I doubt they’ll consider us a real threat after…”

Rey saved him from having to finish that sentence. “Exactly. And once we’ve recuperated, we can reconnect with our allies and try to make new ones. The destruction of the Hosnian System was so fresh that when you reached out for help on Crait, they were probably too terrified to respond.”

“And you think that’s going to change?” Leia asked.

“I think fear leads to anger, and anger leads to hate.” That had been one of Luke’s few lessons, but it was Ben she thought of. The way he’d cut down guard after guard in the throne room, his fury and his loathing so hot that she could feel it blazing through the Force. Like a caged animal finally set free, just waiting to tear its masters apart. “Hate might cause suffering, but it can make you powerful too. When you anger people, they eventually stand up to fight.”

“You’re not wrong,” Leia said. “That’s the dark side, but there’s never been a war that was won without it. You just have to balance it with light, and hope that light prevails when the dust settles.”

They had so far to go and so many battles left to fight, but Rey hoped that by the end of it all, if the light prevailed, that Ben would stand beside her.

—

The Resistance looked at him like he was a disease that could be caught, when they looked at him at all. It wasn’t a surprise, and it didn’t sting. So long as Rey kept her faith in him, Kylo didn’t care what his mother’s people thought.

He took his share of primitive blankets, plates and bowls and utensils, water, food, and hygiene supplies from the Caretakers. When a particularly curious porg approached him, he snatched it up. The pretty mechanic that clung to FN-2187 scowled at him when he snapped the little bird’s neck. He’d roast it for lunch, and he and Rey would enjoy fresh meat. They’d likely be sick of fish soup within a week, and she deserved more food than that anyway. Rey was strong, but she’d spent most of her life half starved. He’d make sure she was well fed for the rest of her days if she allowed it.

Kylo started a new fire in the bed of last night’s ashes, set up a spit made of wooden sticks, courtesy of a barrow-bush, skewered the porg, and cooked it. It took longer than he liked, filling the hut with the rich scent of roasting meat. He hadn’t eaten in over a day, and hunger was catching up with him, one ache twisting his stomach and another gathering behind his eyes.

“That smells amazing,” Rey said, as she walked into their hut. “Will it be done soon?”

“I think so. It’s been a long time since I cooked.”

She smiled. “It could be terrible, and I’d probably still love it. Anything is better than veg-meat and polystarch.”

“I can’t believe you ate that every day,” Kylo said. “I’d have probably starved to death within a month if those had been my only options.”

“Spoiled prince,” Rey said.

“I’m not a prince.”

“Why not?” she asked. “Your mother is a princess.”

Kylo sighed. “Of Alderaan, when Alderaan existed. It’s gone now, so what would that make me? A prince of stardust?”

Rey watched him closely, her face cast in gold and shadow by the firelight. “Are you ashamed of your legacy?”

Kylo thought of the grandparents he’d never met, Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, Bail and Breha Organa. Three of the four had been part of the Rebellion’s foundation, and they’d worked against the Empire, which Snoke had called powerful but flawed. The First Order had been made in the image of the Empire, but it was greater, better, a force that would never be defeated.

But Snoke lay dead, the First Order was weakened, and Kylo was allied with the Resistance.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “They wouldn’t have wanted me, so why should I want them?”

“You don’t know that.”

When he didn’t answer, she sighed, poked the top of the porg, and immediately pulled back, hissing. She sucked on her finger, then said, “I don’t know if it’s done, but it’s certainly hot.”

Kylo felt a smile pulling at his lips, but he stopped it. Rey brought out the strangest things in him, parts of himself that he’d fought for years. Especially the light she so wanted him to grasp. He needed to be more careful around her.

He took the porg off the fire, plated it, and cut into the breast to make sure it was fully cooked. There wasn’t any pink left to the meat, but it was still tender, and he hadn’t burned it. Not too bad.

He cut the meat off the bones, divided it into two portions, and handed one over to Rey.

“You gave me too much,” she said, a little reluctantly, like she didn’t want to point it out.

“You need it more than I do.”

She scowled, so prettily that he wanted to kiss her downturned lips.

He picked at his porg instead.

Rey ate hers quickly, and she didn’t bother with the fork he’d given her, shoving the food into her mouth with her hands. She went for the bones after that, nibbling the last scraps of meat from then. There was something both endearing and sad about it all, her starved, lonely life written into her table manners. She’d had no one to teach her any better, and she’d spent too much time hungry to restrain herself when she had food.

She licked her fingers, then said, “Stop staring and eat, unless you want me to steal yours.”

Kylo plucked a piece of porg from his plate, put it on hers, and set about eating the rest of his portion. Rey seemed ready to argue, but she chose to eat instead.

She ran off on some errand or another as soon as she finished, which left him to deal with the dishes. It rankled, more because she didn’t want to stay with him than because she’d dumped a chore on him after he’d cooked for her. This morning, she’d let him hold her and run his fingers through her hair. She’d taken his hand in her own and placed it between her breasts, then on her stomach.

_It’s yours. All of it can be yours._

If he’d just turn to the light.

Kylo asked Lieutenant Connix what to do with the dishes, and scared the hell out of her with his question. She glanced between the plates in his hands and his face, and he could feel the moment when her fear gave way to resolve. Brave, then.

Connix pointed toward Rey’s old hut. The roof was still blown off of it, but two Caretakers were already making repairs.

“We found a path back there, behind that hut. It leads down to an underground stream. You can take care of your things there.”

Connix reminded him of his mother, both in her no-nonsense manner and her looks. To his annoyance, that made him like her.

She strode off before he could say anything else.

He found the stream easily, washed the dishes, and sat by the water’s edge, thinking about Rey. That seemed to be all he did lately.

When she’d put his hand on her belly, he’d imagined a future with her. One where they shared a home, a life, a bed. And children. A daughter first, if he had his way, a little girl with her mother’s eyes and his hair. Then a boy, who’d been unfortunate enough to inherit his nose, but had luckily gotten Rey’s smile. In that moment, Kylo hadn’t cared whether their family lived in the darkness or the light. He’d just wished that it would be real someday.

It wouldn’t, he knew, but it was a nice dream nonetheless.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let us know what you thought. :)


End file.
